System For Product Packaging Level Serialization

ABSTRACT

A tracking system for food products includes labeled food product packages and labeled containers for transporting the labeled packages to harvest sites. A data-clearing center receives mobile phone communications from the harvest sites for uploading the container codes. Ancillary information collected from the mobile phone communications including the time, date, location, and phone identification is associated with the container codes for linking the labeled food product packages to details of their harvest.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates in general to food tracking systems, particularlyto such systems that track food into and through food distributionsystems.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Contaminated foods distributed through, regional, national, orinternational distribution systems can pose serious health risks forlarge numbers of people. The contamination can be accidental ordeliberate. Once contaminated food has been discovered or suspected,immediate action is necessary to avoid spreading the contamination to awider population.

Currently, food-tracking systems, particularly for fresh fruit andvegetables, are generally inadequate to precisely identify and isolatepotentially contaminated produce. Sometimes, the only recourse is torecall or otherwise destroy the entire inventory of a distributorresponsible for one or more brands. Back-tracing shipping records offood products from sales outlets to a common source is time consuming,and the records themselves may lack enough information to identify theparticular fields, farms, or growers from which the produce originated.Retailers and consumers may have no choice but to discard all foodproducts from a distributor that have the potential of beingcontaminated. In the event of a contamination outbreak, the cost todistributors can be very high. Even in the absence of any sort ofoutbreak, the risk to distributors over the potential loss of theirinventory of a food product is ever-present.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention as set forth among its preferred embodiments provides alow-cost food tracking system that exploits the cellular telephoneinfrastructure already in place throughout this country and around theworld for communicating on-site information concerning the initialpackaging or harvesting of food products. In addition, the cellulartelephone infrastructure also provides information about the location ofthe communication and the identity of the mobile phone or its assigneduser. Time and date information about the communication is availablethrough the cellular telephone infrastructure or from other sourcesmonitoring the communication. Together, this information can be used torecord details concerning the origins of food products, such as freshproduce, to more quickly and effectively identify the source ofcontaminated or otherwise adversely affected food products.

In one version of the invention, produce packages (such as cartons orclamshells) are individually encoded (such as, by the application oflabels containing serialized information). The individual producepackages are grouped (e.g., arranged in stacks) and shipped incontainers, such as boxes, that can be similarly encoded. The codeapplied to each container is associated with a sequence or other listingof the codes assigned to the produce packages within each container,such that the identification of a container code also identifies alisting of the produce package codes of the produce packages within thecontainer.

Typically, the containers (e.g., boxes) are shipped to staging areaswhere they can be accessed by growers (including their harvestingagents) as needed. The growers purchase or otherwise acquire thecontainers and transport the containers to individual farms or fieldsfor harvesting their produce. The containers are opened on-site, and theindividual produce packages (e.g., cartons or clamshells) aredistributed to harvesters. Just prior to, accompanying, or just afterthe distribution of the individual produce packages, a mobile phone, onsite, is used to send a voice, text, or graphics message to adata-clearing center, such as through a telephone number or web address,for communicating the code associated with the container brought to aparticular farm or field location. At the data-clearing center, thecontainer code is received along with information collected inassociation with the call itself. For example, the location, time, date,and telephone number of the caller can be recorded in a database alongwith the container code. Based on a previous association of thecontainer code with the codes of the produce packages within thecontainer, the individually labeled produce packages are also associatedwith the information collected about the container. The locationinformation can be linked to particular farms or fields; the time/dateinformation, which is indicative of the time of the harvest, can belinked together with the location information to weather or relatedconditions at the time of the harvest; and the telephone numberinformation can be linked to particular harvesting teams or growers.

Each such product package en route to or reaching a consumer has beenregistered at the data-clearing center with information concerning theorigin of its contents. In the event contamination, spoilage, or otherproduct failing is discovered or even suspected, the source of eachquestionable food product can be immediately ascertained by submittingthe product package code to the data-clearing center or other repositoryof the information linked to the center. The source or extent of theproblem can be more readily determined by identifying patterns among theaffected products. For example, all of the contaminated product might betraced to a particular farm or field or to a collection of farms offields for focusing attention on a commonality, such as a locality,harvesting team, or particular shipper. Any recall can then be moreefficiently targeted to only the produce originating from the singlefarm or field or other commonality deducible from the documented sourceinformation.

The early discovery of problems or quality issues involving foodproducts traceable to their source can also lead to a betterunderstanding of the causes of these problems and to a more timely andfocused remediation. Higher or at least more consistent food productquality can be achieved in this way.

The ability to trace the origins of food products can also provideretailers and consumers with more information for making food productselections and provide distributors, e.g., brand food companies, withmore opportunities for connecting with their customers. For example,interested retailers or consumers can find the date and location whereparticular produce was harvested. Weather, another related conditions inthe area at the time of the harvesting could also be considered. Asubscription service can be used to inform interested retailers orconsumers about desired products or predefined conditions, such as theharvest from a particular region or farm. An alert system can be used toinform registered consumers of potentially dangerous produce, includingthe range of codes involved. For example, the registered customer couldbe given a range of codes for the produce that is on a watch list. Theconsumers could be provided this information directly or could beadvised to contact the distributor, retailer, or other responsible partywith access to the database.

Various levels of interactivity are possible at the staging site wherethe mobile phone call is placed to associate a range of product packagecodes with a location, time, date, and caller. For example, the crewchief of a harvesting team who initially contacts the data-clearingcenter could receive a notification as to whether the uploaded containercode is recognized as a valid code or could be notified only in theevent that the uploaded container code is not recognized as a validcode.

The container code can be uploaded in a number of ways. For example, thecontainer code could be sent by a text message or could be orallytransmitted through a regular mobile phone voice call to an automatedrecording system or a data entry clerk. In the event that an invalidcontainer code is entered, a live or programmed operator could be onstandby to intervene to be sure that a correct code is recorded. Returncalls could be made in the event of a faulty entry. Picture messaging isalso possible. For example, the box code could be recorded in varioussymbolic formats, including characters, glyphs, bar codes, or othersymbols that can be interpreted from an image. Thus, a picture of thecontainer code could be transmitted to the data-clearing center, wherethe code is deciphered and stored along with the other informationavailable from the call. Again, in the event that the code is notsuccessfully recorded, a return call or other return communication canbe placed via the same mobile phone system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a labeling system for encoding individual producepackages and containers within which the product packages are shippedfor use.

FIGS. 2A-2F present a series of illustrations depicting steps fordistributing and recording the containers, and filling and shipping theproduct packages.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data-clearing center as a network hub forcollecting and disseminating information.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a piggyback label mountable onproduct packaging and including a removable label portion for retaininginformation independently of the product packaging.

FIG. 5 is a top view of the piggyback label containing printedinformation for identifying and tracking the product.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a product package or container labelwith an embedded RFID tag.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of the data-clearing center.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A labeling system 10 as depicted in FIG. 1 includes a first stage 12that applies encoded labels 14 to a series of product packages 16 (shownas clam shells) and a second stage 18 that applies encoded labels 20 toa series of containers 22 (shown as boxes) for transporting stacks ofthe product packages 16. A first-stage transporter 24 (shown as a drivebelt) advances a succession of the product packages 16 from a supplysource (not shown) past a label applicator 26, which applies the encodedlabels 14 to the succession of product packages 16. The encoded labels14 are preferably supplied as a succession of sequentially serializedlabels along a continuous web 15. A reader 28, also positioned along thefirst-stage transporter 24, reads encoded information 17 on the labels14 applied to the product packages 16 and outputs this information 17 toa local processor 29 and code communication port 30.

The labeled product packages 16 are stacked within the containers 22. Asecond-stage transporter 32 advances a succession of the containers 22from a supply source (not shown) to a filling and sealing station 34,where the product packages are stacked within the containers 22, andpast a label applicator 36, which applies the encoded labels 20 to thesuccession of containers 22. The encoded labels 20 are also preferablysupplied as a succession of sequentially serialized labels along acontinuous web 21. A reader 38, also positioned along the second-stagetransporter 32, reads the encoded information 23 on the labels 20applied to the containers 22 and outputs this information 23 to thelocal processor 29 and communication hub 30.

The local processor 29 associates the encoded information 17 from setsof product packages 16 received within individual containers 22 with theencoded information 23 on the individual containers 22. Thus, fromknowledge of the code 23 on an individual container 22, the codes 17 ofthe individual product packages 16 within the individual container 22can be ascertained. Preferably, the labels 14 are encoded in an orderedsequence or other listing so that only the beginning and end of thesequence or other such abbreviated information must be associated withthe individual container codes 23 of the labels 20. The ordered sequenceof product codes 17 is not necessarily in numerical order but thesequence is preferably known. For example, the labels 14 can be suppliedon the web 21 with an ordered sequence of codes 17 so that only thecodes 17 of the first and last product packages 16 that enter theindividual containers 22 must be read and recorded to identify theentire list of product packages 16 within each of the containers 22.Alternatively, if the containers 22 are arranged to receive one or morestacks of the product packages 16, where each stack comprises a knownnumber of product packages 16 and the product codes 17 are applied tothe product packages 16 in a known sequence, then only the product codes17 of the first or last product packages 16 must be read to identify allof the product codes 17 of the other product packages 16 within eachstack. The container codes 23 together with their associated listing ofproduct packaging codes 17 are uploaded or otherwise communicated to adata-clearing center 40 for future use.

Although preferably machine readable, the codes 17 and 23 of the labels14 and 20 can take various forms including characters, glyphs, barcodes, or other symbols. The codes 17 on the labels 14 and the codes 23on the labels 20 can take different forms from each other. However, atleast the codes 23 on the labels 20 are preferably interpretable fromimages.

The containers 22 could also be assembled into pallets, skids, or othercollections (not shown) that could be similarly encoded and recorded sothat the code (not shown) for each such collection is associated withthe codes 23 of the individual containers 22 within each collection aswell as the individual product packages 16 within each of the containers22. Although the codes 17 or 23 for the packages 16, containers 22, orcollections are preferably applied as pre-printed labels (e.g.,pressure-sensitive labels), the codes could also be directly printed,inscribed, embossed, or otherwise encoded directly or indirectly on thepackages 16, containers 22, or other collections.

FIGS. 2A through 2F depict a sequence of steps whereby the encodedpackaging 16 is used within a system for recoding the origins of foodproducts. As depicted in FIG. 2A, the containers 22 filled with stacksof product packages 16 (not shown) are shipped to a staging area 50,where the containers 22 can be accessed by food growers or their agents.As depicted in FIG. 2B, the growers acquire the containers 22 from thestaging area 50 and transport the containers 22 to individual farms orfields 52 for harvesting their food products 54 such as produce,depicted as berries.

As depicted in FIG. 2C, a farm foreman, crew chief, or other harvestingagent 56 of the grower uses a mobile phone 60, preferably a cell phoneunique to the harvesting agent 56, to upload the container code 23 tothe data-clearing center 40. The communication with the data-clearingcenter 40 (shown in FIG. 1) can take place through a telephone number,web address, or other link. The communication itself can take variousforms, including voice, text, or graphics messaging. Preferably, themobile phone 60 includes a camera, and the grower's agent 56 transmits apicture of the code 23 visible on the on-site container 22. Thetransmitted image is preferably deciphered at the data-clearing center40. However, the mobile phone 60 could also include local graphicsprocessing capabilities for performing a deciphering function anduploading the deciphered code 23. Optional feedback can be provided tothe grower's agent 56 from the data-clearing center 40. For example,verification could be provided that the container code 23 wassuccessfully uploaded and that the uploaded container code 23 matches avalid code. In the event that an incomplete or invalid container code 23is uploaded, a live or programmed operator could intervene to providefor re-uploading of the code 23. A return call could also be placed tothe mobile phone 60 to provide additional feedback or instructions tothe grower's agent 56 or to suggest a different mode for communicatingthe container code 23.

FIG. 2D depicts the opening of the containers 22 and the distribution ofthe product packages 16 to harvesters for filling the product packages16 with the food products 54 (e.g., berries). FIG. 2E depicts thecollection of the filled product packages 16 into transport containers62, such as boxes, and FIG. 2F depicts the shipping of the filledcontainers 62 to retail outlets or distribution sites. The transportcontainers 62 or collections of such containers 62 can be arranged onpallets, skids, or other transport structures for shipping or temporarystorage and can also be separately encoded and linked with theircontents.

Although the illustration of FIG. 2C depicts the upload of the codes 23on the containers 22 before the containers are opened, the upload canalso take place during or after the distribution of the product packages16 but preferably close to the time that the food products 54 areharvested. The mobile phone call for uploading the container codes 23 isalso preferably placed at or near the site at which the food products 54are harvested.

Flows of information to and from the data-clearing center 40 aredepicted in FIG. 3. Through the code communication port 30, thedata-clearing center 40 collects information relating sets of productpackaging codes 17 of the product packages 16 to container codes 23 ofthe containers 22 in which the product packages 16 are shipped. Throughon-site mobile phones 60, the data-clearing center 40 collectsinformation identifying the container codes 23 associated with theon-site harvesting of the food products 54 into the product packages 16.The data-clearing center 40 also preferably collects information from amobile operator 64, providing the time, date, location, and phoneidentifier of the caller (e.g., telephone number of the grower's agent56). The time and date information is, of course, independentlyavailable to the data-clearing center 40 as the recipient of the call.In addition, the data-clearing center 40 preferably collects from othersources 66 information such as weather reports, climate data, soilconditions, farm locations, shipping information, or other informationbearing on the condition of the food products 54. Processing within thedata-clearing center 40 links the collected information. For example,the location information can be linked to particular farms or fields,the time, date, and location information together can be linked toweather or related conditions at the time of the harvest or growingconditions in advance of the harvest, and the phone identifier can belinked to particular harvesting teams or growers. The information fromvarious sources 66 can be linked automatically with the acquisition ofthe on-site harvesting information (container codes, times, dates,locations, phone identifiers) or such linkages can be made in responseto subsequent queries.

A customer communication port 70 supports interactive access to theinformation gathered or processed at the data-clearing center 40.Information about the contents of individual product packages 16 isaccessible throughout the food distribution network to the end consumer.In the event tainted food is discovered or even suspected, the originsand subsequent handling of the food products 54 can be easily traced andpatterns linking tainted food products from different retail ordistribution outlets can be readily discovered. Any recall of the foodproducts 54 can be limited to a lowest commonality, such as the foodproducts harvested from a particular farm on a particular day. Widerproblems are similarly discoverable for effecting larger scale recalls.Sources of contamination or other handling problems, such as issues offreshness, can also be more readily discovered by identifying the levelat which the problem is apparent (e.g., a particular farm, region, ortime of harvest).

The information acquired concerning the origins of the food products incombination with the ability to track the food products through adistribution system enables the use of premium pricing systems to beimplemented, where different prices are charged for food products basedon their origins. Orders can be taken for produce (a) originating fromparticular farms or localities, or (b) meeting certain harvest orshipping parameters (e.g., date, time, weather conditions, or harvestteam). Even within the same distribution channels, the produce fromorganic farms can be automatically distinguished from the produce ofnon-organic farms by pre-registering information concerning the farmsand their locations. In this way, certain retailers, includingrestaurants, can specify orders for food products meeting certain targetparameters such as farm location, farm type, or harvest conditions.Conventional warehouse tracking systems can be used in conjunction withthis information for segregating and delivering differently specifiedproducts to particular customers or customer sites. Wholesalers canaccept individual advance orders to create specialty markets for themore finely distinguished food products.

Although the containers 22 are shown in the sequence of FIGS. 2A-2F asbeing delivered directly from the staging area 50 to a farm 52 forunloading the product packages 16 at the harvest site, the containers 22can be emptied at the staging area 50 or at an intermediate site toregroup the product packages 16 into the transport container 62 intendedfor delivery to retail sites. Labels or other identification meanscarrying transport container codes can be applied or otherwiseassociated with the transport containers 62 individually or with abundled set of the transport containers 62. The product packages 16 arepreferably loaded into the transport containers in a form that maintainsa known sequence of the product package codes 17. The series oftransport container codes can be uploaded into the data-clearing center40 to supplement or replace the associations previously made with thecontainer codes 23. The upload can be made by a computer connection,mobile phone connection, or other form of communication. At the harvestsite, the transport container codes can be uploaded to the data-clearingcenter 40 in association with the time, date, harvest site, and grower'sagent responsible for harvesting of the food product 54.

The labels 14 containing the codes 17 as shown in FIG. 1 can beconventional pressure-sensitive labels or can be arranged in otherforms. For example, piggyback labels 74 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5include primary and secondary pressure-sensitive labels 76 and 78. Someconsumers may choose to discard the packages 16 before the food product54 (e.g., produce) is consumed. The piggyback labels 74 enable aconsumer to remove the secondary pressure-sensitive label 78 containinga package code 77 from a primary pressure-sensitive label 76 affixed tothe product packages 16 and to transfer the secondary label 78 toanother surface (not shown) such as a refrigerator or other form ofregister. The removable secondary label 78 provides a convenient way fora consumer to retain access to the origins of the food product 54without retaining its packaging 16.

The piggyback labels 74 (including the labels 14) could also be arranged(e.g., printed) to display information 82 concerning the distributor orfood brand company associated with the food product 54. Addressinformation 84, such as a website address, could also be provided tomaintain a closer connection with individual customers. Productpromotions and offers could be made to consumers in this way. Loyaltypoints or other incentive systems could be used to deepen the connectionand increase interactivity.

Both the primary and secondary labels 76 and 78 of the piggyback labels74 are preferably pressure-sensitive labels having respective facesheets 86 and 88 backed by layers of pressure-sensitive adhesive 92 and94. A release layer 96 on the face sheet 86 of the primary label 76allows the secondary label 78 to be removed from the primary label 76and affixed to another surface (not shown). Corresponding printedinformation including the package code 77 and company information 82 ispreferably printed on the face sheet 86 of the primary label 76 so thatthe product package 16 and any remaining contents 54 remain traceableeven after removal of the secondary label 78.

A variety of other types of labels could also be used includingsingle-ply labels with detachable portions that can be backed by areusable adhesive or can have a non-tacky backing.

The acquired information including the package codes 17 or 77 of thefilled product packages 16 can also be used as a basis for tracking thefood products 54 through intermediate stages of the food distributionsystem. For example, the labels 14 or 74 could also be arranged toinclude an RFID tag that is readily machine-readable.

FIG. 6 depicts an alternative label 104 having an RFID tag 106 embeddedwithin a substrate 108 beneath a printable face sheet 110. A firstpressure-sensitive adhesive layer 112 affixes the substrate 108 togetherwith its embedded RFID tag 106 to the product package 16, and a secondpressure-sensitive adhesive layer 114 affixes the printable face sheet110 to both the substrate 108 and the tag 106. A package code 107 alongwith other text or graphics 116, preferably identifying the product orits source, is printed on the face sheet 110.

While such RFID technology is likely too expensive to be exploited atthe harvesting level, the RFID tags 106 can be used to trace the filledproduct packages 16 through large warehousing systems. RFID tag codes(not shown) can be linked to the product package codes 107 so that theharvest level data can be associated with data acquired during thefurther progression of the product packages 16 through the distributionsystem. At the consumer retail level, both the product package code 107and the RFID code provide access to information associated with eithercode. Thus, by pre-linking the RFID tag code with the product packagecode 107, the two tracking systems can be joined. Since both the productpackage code 107 and the RFID tag code can be programmed together intothe same label 104, the same code can be assigned to both the productpackage code 107 and the RFID tag code to provide an automatic linkage.For example, the RFID tags 106 can be pre-encoded, read, and the samecode printed on the label 104 to provide the initial linkage. Reverseprogramming is also possible where the RFID codes are programmed tomatch the printed product package codes 107.

In addition to having various communication links as depicted in FIG. 3,the data-clearing center 40 preferably maintains one or more databasesfor at least temporarily storing information concerning both theinitially uploaded package and container codes 17 (77, 107) and 23 andthe subsequently uploaded container codes 23 from harvest sites. Date,time, location, and phone identifier information is also preferablystored in one of the databases in association with the container code 23uploaded during the call. By previous association, the same informationis also linked with the package codes 17 (77, 107) of the packages 16distributed from the identified container 22. One or more conversiontechnologies are also preferably provided at the data-clearing center 40for interpreting or deciphering the container codes 23 from the uploadedvoice, text, or graphics information. For example, an uploaded image ofa barcode can be converted into a numeric code. Program drivenprocessing is also preferably provided for making additionalassociations with the package codes 17 (77, 107) including acquiring andrelating ancillary information such as weather or soil conditions.

Within the data-clearing center 40, as shown in FIG. 7, a communicationinterface 130 completes all of the connections shown in FIG. 3 forgathering and disseminating information. Information acquired throughthe code communication port 30 is stored in a database 134 of linkedpackage and container codes 17 and 23. Information acquired through theon-site mobile phones 60 and the mobile operator 64 is interpreted andlinked together by the processor 150 and stored in a database 134 ofcontainer codes 23 stamped by the associated time, date, location, andphone identifier associated with the uploaded the container codes 23.Further associations can be made with the initial processing of themobile phone communication or later on demand to link the mobile phonelocation to a particular harvest site, such as a farm, and to link thephone identifier with the grower's harvesting agent. Decoding technology136 can be used by the processor to decipher or otherwise interpret theuploaded container codes 23. For example, the container codes can beuploaded as camera images, and the decoding technology 136 can be usedto convert the images into an alphanumeric form. Response protocols 138can also be accessed to compare the uploaded container codes 23 with thecontainer codes 23 stored in the database 132 to generate a responsethrough the mobile phone connection, particularly if the uploaded code23 does not match a stored code 23 or is not within prescribed limits(e.g., as an incomplete code or unrecognizable code). The responsesdelivered through the mobile phone connection are preferably in the formof an automated text or graphics message, but a computer-generated voicemessage or even a human initiated call could also be made to theharvesting agent 56 to confirm or advise of a problem with the uploadedcode 23. Different protocols, including a hierarchy of responses, can beprovided to deal with repeated errors, ranging from succinct to detailedmessages and full automation to human intervention.

Customer, subscriber, or other user inquiries are preferably processedaccording to inquiry protocols 140 for controlling the retrieval orfurther acquisition of information, processing, and dissemination ofinformation. For example, inquiries can be made concerning the origin offood products associated with one or more product package codes 17. Eachproduct package code 17 can be linked to its associated container code23 from the database 132, and the container code 23 can be linked to thedate, time, location (harvest site, such as a farm), and phoneidentifier (grower's harvesting agent) associated with the on-siteupload of the container code 23 from the database 134. Depending on theinquiry, the date, time, and location information can be used toretrieve additional information about growing or harvesting conditionssuch as weather or other metrological or climate data, soil conditions,including fertilizer use, and historical information about other foodproducts taken from the same harvest site. Any Information concerningthe distribution of the food product from the harvest site to market canalso be retrieved from package code 17 or its associated container code23. The information acquired in response to an inquiry about the packagecode can then be formatted into a report or other information displayand communicated to the customer, subscriber, or other user grantedappropriate access to the data-clearing center 40.

Further correlations and associations can be made in response toinquiries containing a plurality of package codes 17. Each of thepackage codes 17 can be separately traced and further processed toidentify commonalities among food products in different product packages16, including a common location or wider region, a common time or dateof the harvest, a common grower, a common harvest agent or team or evencommon distribution information. Reports of such commonalities can beused to trace the origin of tainted or otherwise suspect food products,allowing more focused recalls based on a listing of the package codes 17of all affected food products.

The inquiry protocols can also be used for establishing sub-markets forpricing food products differently based on their origins and foraccepting orders for food products based on their origins. For example,orders can be placed for food products meeting target descriptions,which can include such distinctions as farm type (e.g., organic ornon-organic), region, harvest dates or even orders from particular farmson particular dates. The criteria are matched to listings of the packagecodes, and the food products within packages matching the listing ofpackage codes are delivered to the customer.

Subscription services could also be provided for automatically notifyingcustomers of recalls of suspect foods or the availability of desiredfoods. Metrics could also be collected to report on such things asyearly outputs or to identify persistent problems. Feedback from thecustomers or others in connection with the food products could be usedto generate ratings, such as for assessing quality and freshness, ofparticular farms, regions, harvest dates or other associated informationconcerning the origins or distribution of the food products.

The product packaging can take a variety of forms in addition to theillustrated clamshell packages 16. For example, the packaging caninclude bags, crates, cartons, or wraps.

1. A system for capturing product packaging level serializationcomprising (a) product package codes applied to a plurality of foodproduct packages along a product package conveyer, (b) a reader forreading the product package codes at predetermined intervals of theproduct packages, (c) container codes applied to containers fortransporting the product packages, and (d) a database that relates theproduct package codes of product packages transported within thecontainers with the container codes of the containers.
 2. The system ofclaim 1 in which the product package codes are applied in a knownsequence.
 3. The system of claim 2 in which the predetermined intervalsat which the product package codes are read correspond to a set orinteger subset of the number of product packages transported within thecontainers.
 4. The system of claim 1 in which the product package codesare machine readable.
 5. The system of claim 1 further comprising ananalyzer for comparing product package codes associated with productpackages assigned to a container with product package codes of productpackages within the container.
 6. A method for product packaging levelserialization comprising (a) packing a plurality of product packageshaving product packaging codes in a container in a sequentially relatedmanner, (b) removing some of the product packages from the container,(c) distinguishing the packaging codes of product packages that areremoved from the container from the packaging codes of the productpackages that remain within the container, (d) packing the removedproduct packages in a second container, applying a second container codeto the second container, and (e) associating the product package codesof the product packages within second container with the secondcontainer code of the second container.
 7. The method of claim 6including a step of transmitting the product packaging codes associatedwith the second container code together with the second container codefor storage in an accessible database.
 8. The method of claim 6including steps of packing the removed product packages in a thirdcontainer, applying a third container code to the third container, andassociating the product package codes of the product packages withinthird container with the third container code of the third container. 9.The method of claim 6 including a step of comparing the productpackaging codes of the product packages within the second container to aset of product packaging codes of the product packages expected to bewithin the second container.